Betsy Apple

Executive Director

Betsy Apple is the executive director of Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef). Previously, she was the advocacy director for the Open Society Justice Initiative based in New York, where she oversaw and undertook legal advocacy on a broad range of human rights issues.

Prior to joining the Justice Initiative, she was the legal director at AIDS-Free World, where she led the legal team challenging the Jamaican anti-sodomy law at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and assembled a dossier for the South African national prosecutor seeking an investigation into mass election-related rape.

She also served as the Director of the Crimes Against Humanity program at Human Rights First, Deputy Director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), and the Managing/Legal Director of EarthRights International, in Thailand and the United States.

Early in her career, she litigated at a private firm and worked at a legal aid organization.

Betsy Apple teaches international human rights law.